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OUR PURPOSE:At the Vine, people matter to God and therefore they also matter to us. When we say PEOPLE, we mean all people regardless of age or race, occupation or social status. Our purpose is “Connecting people to Jesus and growing together in his Word.” We want to see every person in a right relationship with God and growing in their faith so that their lives and eternity are changed forever. We work hard at the Vine to make sure everything we do exists to create an environment where that can happen.
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OUR VISION:We see the entire world being reached with the good news of Jesus, starting right here at The Vine. Our vision involves the One who thinks big. We cannot out-think Jesus. If we are timid about the vision for The Vine, our vision will be too small. We want to think big enough and dream big enough for the God who thinks big. Specifically, our vision is:
OUR VALUES:What are our values as a church? In other words, what qualities are most important to us as we carry out our purpose and vision?
OUR HISTORY:The Vine began as a new mission plant in Coeur d'Alene and second site of St Matthew Lutheran Church in Spokane in July 2016. Initially, we met as a small group for worship and Bible study in the Pastor's living room. In October 2017, as a result of the Lord's blessing, the small group out-grew that space and started renting a conference room for Sunday worship at Triple Play Hotel in Hayden. In November 2018, we moved to a larger rental facility at 9407 N Government Way in Hayden. Then in 2022, we purchased our own building at 9140 N Reed Rd in Hayden, where we are currently worshiping and serving our community. God continues to bless us!
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OUR BELIEFS:We believe that there is only one true God. He has made Himself known as the Triune God, one God in three persons. The Bible says that whoever does not worship this God worships a false god, a god who does not exist.
We also believe that God has given us the full revelation of Himself in his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Particularly God has revealed Himself in Jesus as the Savior-God, who "so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). We want to share this with others. We believe that God gave us the Bible through people whom He chose. In a miraculous way that goes beyond all human investigation, God the Holy Spirit inspired these people to write His Word. These people "spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:21). Every thought they expressed, every word they used was given to them by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we believe that the Bible is a unified whole, true and without error in everything it says. The Bible is the infallible authority and guide for everything we believe and do. It is fully sufficient, clearly teaching us all we need to know for salvation, making us "wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:15), and equipping us to lead a godly life. We believe the three central truths of the Reformation: Salvation by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, by God’s Biblical Word alone.
OUR PHILOSOPHY OF MINISTRY:Our “Philosophy of Ministry” is how we plan on achieving our purpose and vision based on our values and beliefs. If we are a church that focuses primarily on ourselves and our needs, we will become nothing more than just a social club that people join, enjoy each other’s company, and receive benefits for themselves, while people outside the church are dying without Christ. People matter to God, and therefore they also matter to us. Therefore, the philosophy of ministry at The Vine is “to help people grow in their faith to the point where they are motivated and equipped to connect other people to Jesus.”
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PASTOR KEVIN SCHULTZ BIO
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Pastor Schultz is founding pastor of The Vine. He moved to Coeur d’Alene in 2016 with his wife, Miriam, and their two grown children: Caleb & Tabitha. Pastor Schultz grew up in Wisconsin and went to high school at Wisconsin Lutheran High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. While there, he began his pastoral studies. After graduating he attended Northwestern College in Watertown, WI, where he studied Greek & Hebrew along with theology and Biblical history and received a bachelor’s degree in Biblical languages. From there he went on to Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in Mequon, WI, and received a Master of Divinity degree in theology. While studying at the seminary, he served an internship for one year at St John’s Lutheran Church in Burlington, WI. Upon graduating from the Seminary, he married his wife Miriam Westendorf and served as pastor of Abiding Word Lutheran Church in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada for 20 years, and also as president of WELS-Canada. In 2007 he moved to San Diego, California, and served Reformation Lutheran Church for 6 years. In 2014 he moved to Spokane to serve as pastor at St. Matthew Lutheran Church, before moving to Coeur d’Alene in August of 2016. Pastor Schultz loves the Lord and is passionate about helping people get connected to Jesus and seeing their lives changed for the better. He is always available to you and would love to meet you. You can call him, e-mail him, or just stop in at his office during the week if he can be of any service to you. |
FROM OUR PASTOR: When I received the call to move to Spokane, Washington, for the purpose of starting a multi-site church across the state line in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, I was very excited. The thought of planting another church has always sounded interesting to me. And so, when I asked how many people would be part of the core group in Coeur d’Alene, the response caught me off guard: “Well… basically… no one.” No one? I’ve always thought that new churches got started because a core group of people living in that area wanted to start a church. No one? How do you start a church with no people?
After arriving in Spokane and talking with some of the leaders of St Matthew Lutheran Church in Spokane, it became clear very quickly that, with no core group of people in Coeur d’Alene, we needed to recruit some of the members of the congregation in Spokane to partner with me to plant this multi-site church campus almost an hour away.
But who in their right mind would travel one hour every week from Spokane to Coeur d’Alene to do canvassing and community service projects and outreach events and relationship building and weekly worship services, when their current church in Spokane is only a few minutes away? Who would make that kind of commitment? I couldn’t imagine that anyone would say “yes” if I would ask them if they would be willing to do this with me.
But I learned very quickly how God works in the hearts of his people. One by one I started contacting people in the congregation in Spokane and asking them if they would be interested in being a part of a “launch team” for two years to get a new church started in Coeur d’Alene.
I had to be honest with them and tell them that it would take a lot of work and time out of their already busy schedule, and that they would need to travel almost a hundred miles round trip multiple times every month, and that they would be spending lots of time in the community talking with people and serving people and getting to know them better, and that they would be driving right past their current church every week in order to worship an hour away. I fully anticipated that no one would agree to do this with me.
But God had other plans. He reminded me, not only how the gospel changes hearts, but also how the gospel motivates hearts.
Twenty-five people said “yes” to my request. 25! And shortly after that, another 5 people asked if they could be a part of it too. That’s a far cry from the “no one” that I had anticipated. But God showed me once again that he is in control and how eager his people are to be a part of the greatest adventure on earth – telling other people about Jesus and building God’s church.
It’s been humbling for me to see so many people excited about reaching this community for Christ and serving this community in love. We hope you will be the next person to come and be a part of it with us!
Pastor Schultz
If you'd like to know what we believe as a Christian church, you can find it at www.understandchristianity.com/
